It was a cold case

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Two Salem, Mass. men who allegedly stole the head of an ice sculpture dragon may avoid jail time after the evidence melted in a faulty police freezer, according to the Salem Patch.

Officers caught William B. Hare, 47, and Rajendra John Srivastava, 30, twice Feb. 12 trying to make a slippery escape with the scuplture’s head.

The first time, the officer told the men to put the head back and leave. But when the officer returned to the scene later, the two men had decapitated the dragon again.

This time Srivastava told police he said he reclaimed the head "because he wanted it.”

Officers arrested Hare and Srivastava, and sent the ice dragon's head to the police department's freezer as evidence for a possible trial, the Salem Patch reported.

But when an officer checked the freezer a few days later, the dragon head was 75 percent melted, apparently because the freezer had malfunctioned.

The two men were charged with larceny of property over $250 and receiving stolen property over $250. Hare was also charged with disorderly conduct, illegal possession of a class B substance and two counts of illegal possession of a class E substance.

Police say they won't drop the charges, despite the lack of icy evidence.